Thirty Kisses: Sleep Rituals
by Muffles
Summary: Written for the 'thirty kisses' community. Zelgadis is sick and Amelia looks after him. While Zelgadis is asleep Amelia tucks him in and has some memories from her childhood. Theme: 18, "Say Ahh"


Author's notes: This is the second ficlet of the "Thirty Kisses" series. The theme for this one is theme #18, "Say Ahh." I'll explain the Thirty Kisses series again for anyone that hasn't read the first one. The Thirty Kisses series is written for the '30 kisses' community in which you chose a pairing from any series, and then you must write or draw thirty things involving that pairing, a kiss, and one of the themes. The kiss doesn't have to be an actual kiss, it can be metaphorical and so on.

It should also be noted that after I got the idea for this one I realized it was kind of like a doujinshi called, "Voltage" that I had seen some scans of. So, this fic was inadvertently inspired by that doujinshi. o.o;

Disclaimer: Slayers is not owned by me. Slayers is owned by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi and all the other people that own it who are not me.

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"Say 'Ahh'!" Amelia instructed as she held up a Popsicle stick. 

"Amelia, it's just a cold. I'll be fine," Zelgadis replied as he laid prone on a bed in an inn.

"We won't know for sure unless you let me finish my check up!" Amelia said as she began to check his temperature by placing her hand on his forehead.

Zelgadis blushed slightly and began to distract himself from her hand on his forehead by thinking back to how he had gotten into this embarrassing situation in the first place.

It started just a few days ago. It wasn't much at first, just a little sore throat, the occasional cough, but it had gotten worse, until yesterday when he felt like utter crap. He didn't even know that he _could_ get sick. Of course, he tried not to let on that he was feeling sick, but somehow Amelia had noticed. Amelia alerted Lina and Gourry, of course, and they all agreed that Lina and Gourry would go ahead to the next town and Amelia and Zelgadis would meet them there once Zelgadis was well, so they wouldn't hold them back. Actually, only Lina, Gourry and Amelia agreed to it, Zelgadis had no say in it. He just wanted to keep traveling. After all, what was a little sore throat or a little fever or the little occasional coughing fit?

"Hmm…. I think if you get some rest and drink plenty of liquids you should get better soon. You know, Zelgadis-san, it probably wouldn't have gotten this bad if you had just told us sooner…" Amelia interrupted his thoughts as she concluded her check up.

"Fine…" Zelgadis grumbled and turned his head to the side to stare at the wall.

"Is something wrong, Zelgadis-san? Besides being sick, I mean. You seem down…" he heard Amelia's worried voice say. He couldn't see face because he was looking at the wall.

"It's nothing…" he replied. It was true that he was annoyed, but it wasn't anything that could be helped. He appreciated Amelia's efforts, but he hated being delayed when traveling and when _he_ was the cause of the delay it just felt like some kind of irony. He still felt like he could have just continued traveling… but, perhaps Amelia was right. If he had gotten this taken care of in the first place and _hadn't_ just continued traveling then he might not have been delayed right now.

"Alright. Let me know if you need anything and I'll be back to check on you later!" With that said, Amelia headed towards the door, but stopped once she reached it. She turned around and pointed at him, "And remember to get some rest!" And then… she left.

Zelgadis sighed. There really wasn't anything he could do about it now. He couldn't just sneak off and leave for the next town without Amelia, and of course Amelia wouldn't let them go to the next town while he was still sick. He really couldn't do anything now but get some rest. He found himself idly wondering what Amelia would do for the rest of the day without Lina or Gourry around to talk to. He picked up a book to read off the dresser near his bed. He opened up the boring book on the magical theory involved in summoning squirrels, and he was asleep before he knew it.

A few hours later Amelia knocked lightly on Zelgadis' door, "Zelgadis-san, are you hungry?" she called through the door. After a moment of receiving no response, she knocked a little louder. When she didn't get any response that time she opened the door quietly and poked her head through.

Zelgadis was laying in bed, asleep, with a book across his chest. His face didn't look particularly comfortable, and his blanket had somehow fallen over the side of the bed.

Amelia stepped into the room fully and tried closing the door as quietly as possible. Well, at least he was taking her advice and getting some rest, but she couldn't just let him sleep like _that!_

She tip-toed to the bed quietly and removed the book, then set it aside on his dresser. Next, she picked up his blanket and began to tuck him in. The action suddenly triggered memories of her Daddy tucking her in at night when she was younger. The thought caused her to smile. The nightly ritual first consisted of the bedtime story; which was almost always about heroes, princesses and Justice.

While Amelia was lost in her thoughts she moved automatically. She had began preparing a wet cloth for Zelgadis' forehead from one of the inn's smaller towels. The next thing her Daddy would do would be pull the covers up to her chin. Her body continued to move on auto-pilot. She started moving some hair out of Zelgadis' face so she could place the cloth on his head as she thought about the last thing her Daddy would do…

The last thing her Daddy did before saying Good Night was plant a kiss on her forehead and then Amelia would drift off to sleep and dream about being a hero of Justice rescuing princesses. Sometimes she feared that she would have bad dreams if the nightly ritual wasn't completed, but it never happened….

As Amelia's flashback was completed, her mind suddenly snapped back to reality. Why…. Why was she so close to Zelgadis-san's face? Was she…What was she….? She was kissing him on the forehead, she suddenly realized! Amelia started backing away from the bed with her hand over her mouth as a blush quickly spread across her face. She realized what had happened. While she was thinking of her Daddy tucking her in, she had accidentally mimicked it! Instead of putting a wet cloth on his forehead as she had intended to, she had kissed him on the forehead.

If Zelgadis-san found out he would surely be mad…. Or very embarrassed. What if he woke up right now!

"Good night, Zelgadis-san!" Amelia squeaked, as if he were actually awake. With that said, she quickly scurried out of the room.


End file.
